![Rohlfs - Selbstbildnis, 1918](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Rohlfs_-_Selbstbildnis%2C_1918.jpeg/1200px-Rohlfs_-_Selbstbildnis%2C_1918.jpeg)
Christian Rohlfs (November 22, 1849 – January 8, 1938) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the important representatives of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
expressionism
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
.
Early life and education
He was born in
Groß Niendorf,
Kreis Segeberg in
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
. He took up painting as a teenager while convalescing from an infection
[ that was eventually to lead to the amputation of a leg in 1874.] He began his formal artistic education in Berlin,[ before transferring, in 1870, to the Weimar Academy.][
]
Professional career
In 1901 Rohlfs left Weimar for Hagen
Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...
, where through the architect Henri van der Velde got to know the art collector Karl Ernst Osthaus
Karl Ernst Osthaus (15 April 1874, in Hagen – 25 March 1921, in Merano) was an important German patron of avant-garde art and architecture.
Life
Osthaus was born to a wealthy banking family, who also owned several businesses in the textile a ...
who offered him a studio in an estate which would become the Museum Folkwang
Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patr ...
. Rohlfs was the first artist to begin to work there. Meetings with Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, ''The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images.
His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dr ...
and Emil Nolde
Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the ...
and the experience of seeing the works of Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...
inspired him to move towards the expressionist style, in which he would work for the rest of his career.
In 1908, at the age of 60, he made his first prints after seeing an exhibition of works by the expressionist group ''Die Brücke
The Brücke (Bridge), also Künstlergruppe Brücke or KG Brücke was a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. Founding members were Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Later memb ...
''. He went on to make 185 in total, almost all woodcuts
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
or linocut
Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum s ...
s. He lived in Munich and the Tyrol in 1910–12, before returning to Hagen.. The outbreak of World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
worried Rohlfs such, that for some time he felt unable to paint. In rare instances he experimented with heavily hand-coloring his prints, onto the verge of painting and sometimes well after they were made, as in his 1919 recoloring of the prior year's ''Der Gefangene''.[Cole, William]
"Christian Rohlfs: ''Der Gefangene'',"
''Art in Print'', Vol. 4 No. 1 (May–June 2014).
In May 1922 he attended the International Congress of Progressive Artists
International Congress of Progressive Artists was organised by Young Rhineland (Junge Rheinland), with help from the November Group, the Darmstadt Secession and the Dresden Secession in Düsseldorf, 29-31 May 1922. The aim of creating an internat ...
and signed the "Founding Proclamation of the Union of Progressive International Artists". In 1937 the Nazis expelled him from the Prussian Academy of Arts
The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and late ...
, condemned his work as degenerate
Degeneracy, degenerate, or degeneration may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Degenerate (album), ''Degenerate'' (album), a 2010 album by the British band Trigger the Bloodshed
* Degenerate art, a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party i ...
, and removed his works from public collections. Seventeen of his paintings were exhibited in the Degenerate Art Exhibition in 1937. He died in Hagen
Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...
, Westfalia
Westfalia is the designation of various specially converted Volkswagen camper vans. It is named after Westfalia-Werke, the contractor that built the vans, which is headquartered in the town of Rheda-Wiedenbrück, located in the Westphalia region ...
, on 8 January 1938.
Style and technique
Throughout his career he working through a variety of academic, naturalist, impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
, and Post-Impressionist styles. He has often been viewed as one of the first Expressionists.
Reception
After his death, the German authorities prohibited the sale of his paintings. Commemorative exhibitions were organized by the Kunstmuseum Basel
The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the oldest public art collection in the world and is generally considered to be the most important museum of art in Switzerland. It is listed as a heritage site of national significance.
Its lineage extends back to t ...
and the Berner Kunsthalle.
Recognition
* In 1929 the town of Hagen opened a Christian Rohlfs Museum.
* Honorary citizen of Hagen
Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...
* Honorary Doctorate by University of Kiel
Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...
* Honorary Doctorate by University of Aachen
RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...
Works
Christian Rohlfs - Hügelige Landschaft im Spätherbst.jpg, Hilly landscape in late autumn, 1900
1912 Rohlfs Stiftskirche St. Patrokli in Soest anagoria.JPG, Collegiate Church of St. Patroclus in Soest, 1912, Germanisches Nationalmuseum
The Germanisches National Museum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The Germanisches National ...
1912 Rohlfs Visionaere Landschaft anagoria.JPG, Landscape vision, 1912, Germanisches Nationalmuseum
The Germanisches National Museum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The Germanisches National ...
1914 Rohlfs Versuchung Christi anagoria.JPG, The temptation of Christ, 1914, Germanisches Nationalmuseum
The Germanisches National Museum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The Germanisches National ...
File:Rohlfs - Sternbrücke in Weimar.jpeg, Sternbrücke in Weimar., (ca. 1917)
References
External links
Biography & Works by Christian Rohlfs
Galerie Ludorff, Düsseldorf, Germany
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rohlfs, Christian
1849 births
1938 deaths
19th-century German painters
German male painters
20th-century German painters
20th-century German male artists
German Expressionist painters
People from Segeberg
19th-century German male artists